Investigation of the Formation of Cristobalite from the Quartz Natural Zeolite Mixes at Low Temperature

English (OpenAlex)

Abstract. The β−cristobalite form of ceramic powder has great potential for fabrication of porous ceramics with having high thermal stability, low density and chemically inertness. Our previous study showed that it is possible to prepare a high−cristobalite ceramic powder at low temperature sintering (at 1200°C) the mixture powder composed of a high−purity quartz (99.09 % SiO2) and clinoptilolite type of natural zeolite (25 % zeolite, by weight). In this study, the phase transformation efficiency of the quartz to cristobalite was investigated with respect to high zeolite contamination in the mixture (up to 60 % zeolite by weight) and the size of sample as coarse (milled for 8 hrs) and fine (milled for 80 hrs). Results showed that the phase transformation of quartz to β−cristobalite was almost complete with the fine sample having moderate zeolite additive (40-50 % zeolite, by weigth).